DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today assigned center Zach Nastasiuk and goaltender Edward Pasquale to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins and signed goaltender Cal Heeter to a professional tryout.

Heeter, who attended the Red Wings’ training camp on a tryout, will serve as the backup goaltender to Jared Coreau tonight as the Red Wings (3-1-1) visit the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7:00 p.m. (FOX Sports Detroit). Detroit will wrap up the preseason with a home-and-home set against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, Oct. 7 at 7:00 p.m. at the First Ontario Centre in Hamilton, Ontario and on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7:00 p.m. at Joe Louis Arena.

Updated 3x at 3:05 PM: Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill addressed the media regarding his expectations for Thomas Vanek this upcoming season, and Blashill told the Detroit News's Ted Kulfan that Vanek will have to earn a new start in Detroit:

"I did a lot of research and I’ve heard a lot of things,” said Blashill of Vanek, who Blashill will start the season on a wing on Darren Helm’s line (the third player on the line hasn’t been determined).

“I’ve heard he’s a great person,” Blashill said. “I’ve heard he doesn’t work hard enough. I’ve heard and seen he scores 40 (goals) a year at times. I’ve seen and heard a lot of those things, and for me, I’ve told him I’m a stubborn person and sometimes that makes my relationship with my wife difficult because I just don’t believe everything I heard. I want it to be proven to me.

“I’m going to watch and he’s going to have a chance to prove it every day. I’ll make decisions based on what I see.”
Vanek’s ability to score goals — he’s scored at least 20 goals 10 times in his career — is something the Red Wings need.

“I’m excited about what he can bring to our table,” Blashill said. “We don’t score easy. He scores easy. He gets one shot and he can score. We have a decent amount of guys how are volume scorers, they need 10 opportunities to score.

“As I said a number of times, and I’ve told him as well, work ethic on the track is not negotiable. Work ethic to win puck battles is not negotiable. Defense is not negotiable. If he does those three things, he can have a real good year.”

He doesn’t get the credit, but Tomas Tatar is the best player on the Detroit Red Wings these days and the best transition winger in the NHL, to boot. Tatar’s silky smooth hands and skating ability allow him to weave his way through the ice with ease, and if he can’t find open ice, he’s also one of the most adept passers in the NHL. Adding to his strong transition play, Tatar is an above average first line defensive player, and strong scorer.

Updated 11x at 3:18PM: The Detroit Red Wings battle the Pittsburgh Penguins this evening (7 PM EDT on FSD/ROOT Sports/the NHL Network U.S.). The Wings are hoping to bounce back from their 6-1 loss to Chicago, while the Penguins will be icing an NHL-heavy lineup.

In special circumstances, however, that’s backwards, and one of the Saginaw Spirit’s newest standouts — Filip Hronek — falls under that category.

When the Spirit hosted cross-conference foe Ottawa at The Dow Event Center on Saturday, Oct. 1, Saginaw fans got a look at a player many are expecting to be a star in this league. And his OHL debut came 24 hours after appearing in a preseason game with the Detroit Red Wings against the Boston Bruins, making him — NHL yesterday, OHL today.

“This kid just played in an NHL hockey game last night,” Saginaw Spirit coach Spencer Carbery said following the game against the 67’s. “He left last night, got up early and was one of the first guys here for morning skate. Plays tonight, and all he wants to do is win. That right there lets you know he’s going to be successful.”

Hronek was paired with recent Edmonton Oilers draft pick Markus Niemelainen on the back end and wasted no time making an impact recording an assist on Brady Gilmour’s goal in the second period.

The Red Wings earned their first regulation loss of the NHL preseason while opening up a stretch of 4 games played over the course of 5 nights, dropping a 6-1 decision to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. At a time of year when the box score can and often does lie, the Wings got out played, out-hustled, out-special-teams-played and generally out-classed on a night that the B Team struggled against a generally more seasoned Hawks squad.

It started as a pipe dream, a shot in the dark, a single hopeful essay among over 1,000.

But what it ultimately turned into, not even Fritz Hoenke could’ve imagined.

Hoenke was the one who wrote the winning essay to help Marquette be named Kraft Hockeyville for 2016. Now, Lakeview Arena has $150,000 to work with for arena upgrades and saw the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes battle in NHL preseason action, the first time the NHL has been in Marquette since 1954.

The Sabres ended up winning the preseason contest 2-0, but the story of the night was what happened off the ice, not on it.

“It feels unreal quite honestly,” Hoenke said. “Earlier, we were watching the practices and watching these world-class athletes out there shooting on our ice in Marquette in our little old arena. You just can’t believe it when you see it. I was thinking about it, the old adage is, ‘It’s a dream come true.’ The reality is, it’s not, because who would’ve ever dreamed this? We certainly wouldn’t have.”

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